Iowa Tennis Association Fall 2015 Meeting

Iowa Tennis Association Fall 2015 Meeting Committee: Officials Committee Chair: Donna Farley Committee Members: Sherry Wilkinson, Matt Bender, Joanne Rickert -Nine umpire schools (Sectional, experienced: 2; Sectional, new: 3; ITA, 2; Referee, 2) were held in Iowa City, Des Moines and Moline). All were taught by D. Farley and expenses totaled $640.51. Of the 38 officials completing this component of the requirements for certification, 24 were returning umpires and 14 were new candidates, many from the Quad Cities area. -Currently these officials are completing the on-line entry of their work records for umpiring during 2015 using the USTA portal called Nucula. The deadline for completion is October 15th. Upon review, I recommend the level of certification appropriate, then Verne Weber authorizes Sectional approval and National approval is the last step. The process is finalized by year end and is in effect for 2016. -All umpires are required to submit a vision form signed by their doctor, due by Dec. 1, 2015 . -The list of tennis officials and their 2016 USTA certification level will be distributed at the ITA Spring Tournament Director’s meeting next February. The “names-only” list of certified officials for 2015 is currently displayed on the ITA website under the “Officials” tab. Please make use of these qualified umpires at any tournament events in the coming months. -Only five junior tournaments (4 District Championships and 1 Futures) took advantage of the 2015 Umpire Grants that were budgeted ($5000). The actual grant expenditures for 2015 totaled $1225.89. Tournament directors have expressed concern about the additional costs to pay their share of the umpire costs and are therefore using as few umpires as possible. This creates an overload for those umpires roving the court complex at these events. We are hoping to encourage greater coverage next year and have requested $2000 for matching grant funds. -The collegiate officials were in high demand as usual, covering the Big Ten, Big Twelve, Missouri Valley and Iowa Conference dual meets and tournaments. Many schools require that each match, singles and doubles, have a chair official so this means 6 officials per dual. The other trend is to have both men and women play on the same day/night in order to create more excitement and fan following. -Meg Nixon from Des Moines was nominated for the “Donna Farley Outstanding Official” of 2015. Meg has expanded her interests to Special Olympic Tennis officiating as well as collegiate work. Last year’s winner was Tom Wickham from Dubuque. -I was chosen to be one of the dozen or so tennis officials chairing the matches at Special Olympics World Games held in Los Angeles over July 25-August 1, 2015. It was a wonderful experience and the sportsmanship and skills demonstrated by these athletes were incredible. Michelle Obama spoke at the opening ceremony along with Maria Shriver! Recommended Proposed Committee Budget for 2015-2016: $3480 with the following breakdown: $700 for clinics; $2780 for Umpire Grants including a Special Olympic event in Eldridge